"It blew through, short but fierce," the local firefighters' spokesman said on Wednesday.

Eyewitness reports and videos from the scene showed a funnel cloud that German weather experts later confirmed was a tornado. Firefighters said the storm carved "a path of destruction" through the town, according to the public broadcaster WDR.

Repairs have already started in Roetgen

The wind blew the top floors from two of the houses in the town of 8,600 people near the Belgian border. Window panes were broken on many buildings and about 10 houses had to be evacuated, said Roetgen Mayor Jorma Klauss.

"But we are calm and collected, there was no panic," Klauss told the DPA news agency.

Klauss also praised the solidarity of the small town's residents, saying that local hotel owner offered free accommodation to those affected. Authorities also set up temporary accommodation in the local school.

Large-scale destructive tornados are relatively rare in Germany. Even so, German meteorologists noted 17 tornadoes in Germany last year.